New York, January 9, 2026, 09:40 (EST) — Regular session.
- Micron down about 3.7% early, pulling back with AI-linked chip names
- Piper Sandler lifts target to $400, citing tight 2026 supply and pricing power
- Focus shifts to tariff ruling risk, Tuesday’s CPI, and Micron’s March earnings
Micron Technology, Inc. shares fell about 3.7% to $327.02 in early trading on Friday, extending a pullback after a sharp run in memory-related stocks.
The move followed a tech-heavy slide on Thursday, when the Nasdaq fell and the S&P 500 technology index dropped 1.5% as investors picked at AI-linked valuations. “While AI is still hot, there are going to be winners and losers,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth. Reuters
That matters for Micron because its rally has leaned on one theme: tight supply and rising prices for memory used in AI servers. Samsung Electronics this week flagged record quarterly profit as DRAM — the short-term memory used in PCs and servers — surged, with TrendForce data showing DRAM contract prices up 313% year-on-year in the December quarter and expected to rise again. “The world is going to need more fabs … because of this new industry called AI factories,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said at CES. Reuters
On the stock-specific side, Piper Sandler raised its price target on Micron to $400 from $275 and kept an Overweight rating, according to a TheFly report carried by TipRanks. The firm said calendar 2026 supply is “effectively sold out” and pointed to “value derived” pricing for high-bandwidth memory, or HBM — the high-speed memory stacked next to AI processors. TipRanks
Macro risk is hanging over the tape. U.S. payrolls rose 50,000 in December versus expectations for 60,000, and traders were still pricing about 55 basis points — hundredths of a percentage point — of rate cuts in 2026, while waiting for a Supreme Court ruling on the legality of President Donald Trump’s tariffs that could come as early as Friday.
But memory is still a cyclical business. If new capacity comes on faster than expected, or demand cools as prices climb, Micron’s pricing power can fade quickly, and margins tend to follow.
Next week brings another test for rate-sensitive tech shares: December’s U.S. consumer price index is due Tuesday as earnings season starts with major banks. Investors will watch whether inflation data keep the Fed on a path toward more easing.
For Micron, the next hard catalyst is its earnings report expected on March 18, according to a Yahoo Finance earnings calendar. Traders will listen for updates on HBM output, pricing in longer-term supply deals, and how quickly Micron can add capacity without feeding the next glut.
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